Chapter 9: Consequences of a Threat

I finally broke through. Xu Qing stood, made a fist, and launched an experimental blow. A cracking sound rang out, and a strong gust of wind blew through the room. His eyes went wide. Even just standing there, he felt a lot stronger than he had earlier. If he had to fight the same giant horned anaconda, he was certain he could destroy the thing with a single blow to the abdomen. Not only that, but he could also tell that his senses were sharper. He could see clearer and also hear better; and that was when he noticed someone knocking softly on the bamboo door. Surprised, he walked over to the door and looked out. Just barely, he could see the girl standing in the moonlight outside the courtyard’s bamboo gate. She looked hurt, and she was also shaking visibly. He frowned, and decided just to ignore her. However, she persisted in knocking. Finally, he opened the door and stepped out. The girl looked nervous to see Xu Qing suddenly standing there on the other side of the bamboo gate, but she didn’t back away. Instead, she just stood there looking at him. “Can I help you?” he said. Stammering a bit, she answered, “I... I g-got my residency permit. And... and I got work in the camp.” “Good to know,” he replied, then turned to go back into his room. “Wait!” she blurted. “Thank you. I came here because I wanted to thank you.” “No need for thanks. I wanted to eat that thing. It had nothing to do with you.” He went back into his cabin. Looking at his back, the girl raised her voice and said, “It doesn’t matter. I still want to thank you. And... I’ll repay you one day.” Turning, she staggered a bit as she walked off into the night. Xu Qing watched her leave then closed the door, unconvinced she would follow through on her words. Inhaling deeply, he took some more time to examine the changes inside of him. He now felt a lot more confident in being able to survive. However, the pain in his arm, which he presumed was from the mutagen, was more intense. Not even eating the snake’s gallbladder had done much to alleviate the mutagen effects. It was quiet this late at night. He didn’t hear any beast sounds echoing across the camp. Walking to the bed, he looked down at the clean blanket, and then at his filth-covered clothing. After some thought, he took the blanket off, rolled it up, and put it to the side. Then he lay down on the wooden bed slats. Acting on instinct, he pulled out his black iron skewer and tried to get to sleep. That skewer was his most trusted companion. He had found it years ago while rifling through a pile of trash. Thinking that it seemed sharp and strong, he’d kept it at his side ever since, and it was now his preferred weapon. I need to find a place that sells white boluses. He rubbed his sack, which contained all of his belongings and savings, including a few gemstones he’d found back in the ruined city. That said, he wouldn’t keep a lot of gemstones on himself. That was just a way to get in trouble. He’d learned that at a young age. Wrapped up in his thoughts, he eventually closed his eyes. However, he never released his grip on his iron skewer. The night passed, and eventually sunlight seeped in from outside. Xu Qing woke. Stepping outside, he looked over at Sergeant Thunder’s cabin only to realize the old man was gone. Noting his absence, Xu Qing headed out into the camp. Perhaps because of his performance in killing the snake, a lot of eyes were fixed on him as he walked around. No longer did people look at him as a child to be bullied. People recognized him. And some seemed wary of him. What was more, the young people roughly his same age who lurked in the alleyways seemed envious. The only way to get respect is to earn it. While looking for a shop that sold white boluses, Xu Qing familiarized himself with the camp. There were a lot of stray dogs, most of whom snarled and snapped over food. Many were skinny and emaciated, but a few looked healthy and strong. Xu Qing kept his eyes out for dogs as he explored. Eventually, he had a general understanding of how the camp was laid out. And it was in the inner ring of the camp that he found the shop he was looking for. It was a fairly large place, with a lot of customers going in and out. He took a few minutes to just watch from the outside, which was when he realized the same girl from last night was working as an assistant. She seemed to be doing miscellaneous jobs, hustling about, her forehead dripping with sweat. When Xu Qing finally entered, she noticed him almost immediately, and was about to say something when a scavenger asked her about some of the goods for sale. At first, Xu Qing didn’t look around at the wares. Instead, he studied the other customers. There were seven people present, some of them looking through the items for sale, some standing around in thought, others haggling. There were two people who seemed to be there together, a fat fellow and a skinny fellow. The fat one was round, the skinny one had a horse face, and both seemed tough, with strong spirit power fluctuations. The skinny one was currently yelling at the girl for not answering his question in a satisfactory way. As the girl apologized over and over again, Xu Qing started browsing the wares. Based on what he was seeing, this was a general store. There were medicinal pills, weapons, clothing, food, and just about everything else. After looking around, he walked up to one of the sales counters, behind which was a shopkeeper smoking a long pipe. “How much are white boluses?” Xu Qing asked. The shopkeeper opened his eyes and looked Xu Qing up and down. Perhaps because he recognized him from the fight yesterday, he responded in a relatively polite manner. “Supply’s limited. I only get about five in per day, and today I already sold two. Ten spirit coins each.” Xu Qing had been ready for a high price, but to hear that they cost ten spirit coins made him frown. His entire life savings consisted of twenty-three spirit coins. However, the mutation blotches on his arm, and the pain they radiated, prompted him to immediately pull out twenty spirit coins and hand them over. The shopkeeper accepted them, opened the cabinet, and took out a cloth-wrapped bundle that he handed to Xu Qing. Xu Qing opened it to find two white medicinal pills inside. He frowned again. The pills were already turning a bit green, which was not their original color. They weren’t fresh, and they didn’t even emanate a medicinal aroma. They were clearly low-quality pills. “White boluses in the basecamp are all like that,” the shopkeeper said with a wooden smile. “We don’t have good quality stuff here. They might be on the verge of going bad, but they still work. Don’t worry, they’re safe to consume.” Xu Qing was too cautious to do that. Instead, he decided to take the pills back to Sergeant Thunder and ask for more information. Putting the pills away, he prepared to leave. However, he suddenly dodged to the side. In that same instant, a hand snatched down onto the exact spot where he’d been standing. Looking over coldly, he saw the horse-faced scavenger who’d been yelling at the girl shortly before. Looking surprised, the man pulled his hand back. At the same time, his rotund companion sidled over to the shop entrance, blocking the exit and staring at Xu Qing with a toothy grin. The other customers in the shop saw what was going on and immediately reacted. “It’s Fatmountain and Horsefour from Squad Bloodshadow!” someone remarked. Then the shopkeeper coldly said, “That kid came back with Sergeant Thunder. I know Thunderclap and Bloodshadow don’t get along, and I don’t plan to interfere. But don’t waste time. I have business to do.” Passersby outside noticed the commotion and craned their necks in interest. The girl looked very anxious, but wasn’t sure how to help Xu Qing. “Don’t worry, this won’t take long,” said Horsefour, looking at Xu Qing with cold eyes and a colder grin. “Kid, I’ve killed a lot of giant horned anacondas, so I don’t plan to cause problems for you. But I need white boluses. Give me the two you just bought. If you do, you can leave quietly. But if you don’t, I’ll break your neck and take the pills from your corpse.” Xu Qing’s eyes darkened. His eyes flitted to the man’s throat, then to his fat companion. And finally he glanced at the crowd gathering in the street. Both of these people had strong spirit power fluctuations, and both looked like they were in the second level. He was confident that, one on one, he could defeat either of them in ten breaths of time or less. If they came at him together, he was still confident he could win, but it would take longer. That wasn’t to mention that this was a public market; if fighting broke out, there might be fellow members of their squad who would come to help them. Xu Qing wasn’t going to rest everything on the hope that Sergeant Thunder would come to his rescue. That was just the kind of person he was. He didn’t like relying on others, and would rather control his own fate. Once again glancing at Horsefour’s throat, he took out the package with the white boluses and threw it at him. The man caught it, looked at him, and laughed complacently. His partner Fatmountain also threw his head back and laughed. Meanwhile, Xu Qing simply started walking. The crowd both inside and outside the shop seemed to take all of this as a matter of course. Everyone knew that the weak are the prey of the strong. It was a natural law. And when the weak could adapt to circumstances, it meant that they knew how to stay alive. The girl sighed in relief, wiped the anxious sweat from her brow, and continued working. As for Fatmountain and Horsefour, they swaggered out of the shop, joking and laughing with each other as they walked down the street. However... neither of them noticed that they were being followed. Xu Qing stayed behind them in the shadows, patiently keeping pace, being careful not to reveal his presence. His eyes were like those of a wolf stalking its prey. Time passed. Eventually, evening arrived. Fatmountain and Horsefour visited a number of locations in the camp. Not once did they ever realize they were being shadowed. Soon, the moon hung high in the sky, which was when they finally parted ways. Fatmountain sat down at the bonfire near their residence, while Horsefour strolled toward the periphery of the camp and the feather-covered tents, a licentious grin on his face. Just before he arrived at his destination, he heard a sound in the darkness behind him. He looked over his shoulder suspiciously, but saw nothing. Then surprise filled his face and he made to move, except it was too late. A small hand reached out and clamped down over his mouth. Another hand appeared, a dagger in it. Without any hesitation, the owner of the dagger slashed it across Horsefour’s throat. A swishing sound could be heard, and a spray of blood shot out into the night. Horsefour’s eyes went wide. He tried to struggle, but the hand was too powerful. Then, the person holding him dragged him backward. He flailed his feet, but they found no purchase on the ground. Moments later, he was being dragged like a chicken onto the ground in a dark alley. The hand kept its grip on his mouth, and after a short time, he couldn’t struggle any more, choking as he was on his own blood. Finally, he was thrown onto the ground. That was when, in his despair, he saw a cold-faced young man standing above him in the moonlight. All he could do was make a sobbing, choking sound. How could he ever have guessed that the young man who had meekly handed over those white boluses earlier in the day... could be so ruthless? He wanted to speak. He wanted to say he’d only been making a threat. That he wasn’t actually going to kill anyone. But the blood clogging his throat made it impossible for him to speak. He could only gag as he looked hopelessly at the young man rifling through his pockets. Eventually, Xu Qing found his white boluses, plus five more. He also found some spirit coins and a few other random items. After taking them, he ignored Horsefour’s terrified expression and pulled out his severed snake head. After carefully opening it, he exposed the fangs and pierced Horsefour’s skin with them. Horsefour started convulsing. Then the skin surrounding the puncture marks started to melt as agony spread through him. Eventually, Xu Qing reached down and closed his eyes. From then on, Horsefour saw nothing else of the world. His body melted, becoming nothing but blood that soaked into the ground. Having learned from past mistakes, Xu Qing took out a sack into which he put Horsefour’s clothing. Then he turned and left. Shortly thereafter, two people suddenly appeared on the spot where Horsefour had been killed. It was the same violet-robed old man and his servant who had been invisible to the crowd the day before. The old man looked down at the ground, then at Xu Qing walking away in the distance. “The boy has potential,” said the old man. “He’s patient, but kills decisively. At the same time, he’s ruthless. He also cleans up after himself. Not bad at all.” The servant seemed surprised. He had served this old man for years, and rarely heard him say ‘not bad at all’ about others. Already, he’d praised this young man twice. “An interesting young man indeed,” the old man said with a smile. Then he casually asked, “How long until Grandmaster Bai arrives?” Looking away from Xu Qing, the servant said, “Master Seventh, according to Grandmaster Bai’s itinerary, he should be here in a day or two.” “So he’s almost here. In that case, I’m going to do my best to convince him of the truth. Over in the Violet Lands, they’re always jabbering on and on about following the rules. He’d be much better off joining us in Seven Blood Eyes.” The old man laughed contentedly as he watched Xu Qing disappearing in the distance. “Let’s go. I want to see what this wolf pup does next.”